LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 97 



elsewhere. Of this period of his life he afterward 

 wrote : " Our professors were themselves original 

 investigators, daily contributing to the sum of 

 human knowledge. They were not only our teachers 

 but our friends. The best spirit prevailed among 

 professors and students. We were often companions 

 of their walks, often present at their discussions, 

 and when we met for conversation, or to give 

 lectures among ourselves, as we constantly did, our 

 professors were often among our listeners, cheering 

 and stimulating us in all our efforts after inde- 

 pendent research." 



It was in Munich that young Agassiz, who 

 occupied a room in Dollinger's house, soon gathered 

 around him a circle of young and talented students, 

 to talk over and discuss matters of scientific interest. 

 His room was the meeting-place of this club, which 

 soon assumed the title of the Little Academy and 

 of which Agassiz acted as president. Before this 

 society did Michaelis lay the results of his researches 

 in the Adriatic Seas ; Born exhibited his beautiful 

 preparations of the anatomy of the lamprey ; 

 Eudolphi lectured to the students on the Bavarian 

 Alps and the coasts of the Baltic; and Schimper 

 and Braun here first expounded the laws of the 

 phyllotaxis. Dollinger himself did not disdain to 

 initiate his disciples and friends of this Little Acad- 

 emy in his newest discoveries and ideas, ere he 

 made them known to the scientific world, and here 

 he taught them the use of the microscope in 

 embryological research. 



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